Dream Role for Violeta Urmana

The Lithuanian singer makes her debut as Amelia in "Un ballo in maschera" with the Bavarian State Opera.

One year after her spectacular debut in the role of Aida at La Scala in Milan, Violeta Urmana is creating another of Verdi's great roles for the dramatically expressive lyric soprano, as she takes on the part of Amelia in "Un ballo in maschera". To this end, Violeta's first exploration of her new role took the form of a semi-staged performance in Florence on September 23, and was a great success.
Her full-stage debut now follows three months later with the Bavarian State Opera, in the opera house of her adopted city of Munich. In this production, the opera will be presented as Verdi originally intended, with the action being played out in the Court of Sweden. Just as he was before in the Teatro Comunale di Firenze, Ramón Vargas (now become Gustavo III) will be Violeta's tenor partner; Franco Vassallo sings the role of her husband (now called Anckarström), and Jane Henschel is the fortune-teller, who also changes her name back to that of the original version and becomes Arvedson. The premiere of this revival, directed by Marco Armiliato, takes place on December 11.
This mastering of the role in two stages makes incontrovertible sense, because Amelia is one of the most complex and most passionate female characters that Verdi ever created. In the two great arias, which are the very touchstone for every prima donna who would be a true interpreter of Verdi, and also in the passionate duets with the tenor (whom Amelia loves and must not love, for she is married, and he whom she loves is her husband's best friend), this operatic character makes supreme demands on the singer's powers, both technical and artistic. Equally, the part requires a sensitive and psychologically nuanced dramatic exploration. Violeta Urmana has, in all her previous appearances on the operatic stage, brought together musicality and theatricality as a unified whole, which places her among the exceptional interpreters of this classic role, in which so many singers are content just with developing the vocal line.

December 11, 15, 18, 21
Verdi: UN BALLO IN MASCHERA / Amelia
Munich, Bayerische Staatsoper

Ruth Wischmann - Media Relations
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This release was published on openPR.